Zudes – The toy that never existed

I recently acquired a Zudes toy. It’s a pretty generic 2000-era toy, but what fascinates me the most about it is the total lack of information about it online. If you search for Zudes, Zudes “Trolls with attitude” or Zudes Hasbro (or Tiger electronics) you will only find a few eBay listings. Searching for images with these terms images does yield a fair amount of results though (mostly from the eBay listings).

I understand that a product can flop, but it just seems like it never existed?!

From what I gathered:

  • They were first released in 2001, and were sold until at least 2003 (info from auction descriptions on eBay)
  • Their slogan was “Trolls with Attitude”
  • It was made by Tiger Electronics, which is a part of Hasbro
  • It was sold in both a square cardboard box and a rectangular plastic package (I have the latter)
  • They contain a few pretty basic games (I kinda like them actually!)
  • It only plays games and responds when you wake it up. You don’t have to feed, clean, entertain them. It’s nothing like a vpet.
  • You can connect several Zudes together (the package suggests they will play together)
  • You get 1 extra game when you connect two Zudes together
  • Here is the manual

But there is so much unclear:

  • Why isn’t there a single review available anywhere? (Speelgoed | Trouw briefly mentions it but that is the only mention I can find)
  • Why is there only 1 Youtube video available about it in 240p that shows the toy?
  • What is the extra game you get when connecting two of them?
  • Do they actually play together when you connect them?
  • Does it have some sort of protocol for connecting other Zudes?

I don’t know why it fascinates me so much, but it just triggered this search for answers. I am currently trying to find as much information as I can and perhaps this will turn into a video.

If anyone has any additional info, please let me know!

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